Since Donald Trump introduced "The Swamp," it' become American slang for the corrupt and secretive underbelly of the Washington, D.C. Deep State.
One Swamp secret is the whole truth of Denny Hastert' life as a pederast. And, we are unlikely to ever know it--the whole truth.
John Dennis Hastert (DOB: January 2, 1942) quit his high school teaching and coaching position in Yorkville, Illinois, held from 1965-1981, to become a politician. Eventually, from 1999-2007, he was the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in American history.
His story will end with the unstated assumption that, after being a practicing pederast from at least 1968-1981, Hastert abandoned his deviant sexual proclivities and focused on becoming an honest and loyal servant of the people of his state and nation. "J. Dennis Hastert, who served for eight years as speaker of the House of Representatives, was paying a former student hundreds of thousands of dollars to not say publicly that Mr. Hastert had sexually abused him decades ago, according to two people briefed on the evidence uncovered in an F.B.I. investigation."The NYT story continued:
"The former student -- who was not identified in court papers -- told the F.B.I. that he had been inappropriately touched by Mr. Hastert when the former speaker was a high school teacher and wrestling coach, the two people said Friday. The people briefed on the investigation spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a federal investigation."The list of the most likely "two people" to have been "briefed" on the investigation, and then to have conveyed the briefing content to the Times, begins with then U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and then Director of the F.B.I. James B. Comey. Clearly, the original leak came from within federal law enforcement--perhaps from within the U.S. Attorney' office in Chicago. Leaks to the media have come from there in the past. The pattern of leakage to the media would continue throughout the Hastert saga. After this initial example in the NYT, the preferred conduit for leaks would become the pages of one of the two main daily newspapers in Chicago--the Chicago Tribune. The Tribune has a history of taking direction from the Chicago office of the U.S. Attorney (USA) for the Northern District of Illinois. For example, during the investigation, arrest and prosecution of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, the Tribune disseminated leaks from the Chicago USA' office. Those leaks helped shape the "Blago" narrative and determine his fate. He remains in prison.
"Defendant acknowledged in his plea agreement that he 'told agents that he was keeping the cash he had been withdrawing in a safe place. [Defendant] made these statements to mislead the agents as to the actual purpose of the withdrawals and what he had done with the money.'"Clearly, Hastert lied to federal investigators. That act alone carries a potential sentence of five years imprisonment. But Denny was never charged for that crime. In paragraph 2, investigators identified the purpose for which Hastert used the money.
"The actual purpose of the withdrawals was to pay an agreed-upon total of $3.5 million to compensate Individual A for sexual abuse of Individual A committed by defendant when Individual A was 14 years old and defendant was his wrestling coach."So, the investigators concluded that the "agreed-up" $3.5 million was compensatory payment for damages to an offended party. The word "blackmail" was not mentioned. But Hastert has never publicly retracted his claim to having been the victim of extortion, or blackmail, by Individual A. Page 7 of the Government' Position... states,
"On February 27, 2015, law enforcement interviewed defendant pursuant to a proffer agreement with the government and, consistent with his attorney' description, defendant alleged that he had been making cash payments to Individual A as a result of an extortion plot.3"Footnote 3 above reads:
"The proffer agreement required defendant to tell the truth. Despite the fact that the government has determined that defendant was not truthful during the proffer, the government is not seeking to utilize the information provided during the proffer in aggravation of defendant' sentence."This was Hastert' Get-Out-Of-Jail card for obstruction of justice--issued before he'd even been indicted. The prosecutors told Hastert what the "truth" was; sounds like Hastert and the prosecutors came to an understanding. The investigators indicated that they had reached the conclusion that Individual A was not a blackmailer/extortionist based on Individual A' demeanor observed in staged, recorded telephone conversations, held on March 2, 2015, between Hastert and Individual A. Here were their observations:
"Individual A' tone and comments during the recorded conversation were inconsistent with someone committing extortion. Instead of objecting to defendant' request, for example, Individual A expressed understanding for defendant' supposed need for more time to come up with the money. Individual A did not make any threats, implicit or explicit, nor did he seem angry that defendant was asking for more time to get the money." (p. 8)In a second recorded call on March 22, 2015, investigators heard the same "tone" used in Individual' comments wherein "Individual A did not say anything that could be construed as a threat." (p. 9) The lesson going forward here for extortionists is: When speaking with blackmail targets on the phone, it' wise to be nice--you might be recorded. On February 23, 2017, the Tribune reiterated the narrative that Individual A was not a blackmailer, and reported that Hastert had "retracted" that claim against Individual A. The context of that report came in an article that reviewed an exchange of dueling civil law suits between Hastert and Individual A (AKA: James Doe), reminiscent of Abbot and Costello' Who' on First skit. James Doe (AKA: Individual A) filed a breach-of-contract law suit against Hastert in The Circuit Court For The Twenty-Third Judicial District, Kendall County, Illinois wherein James Doe claimed he was entitled to receive the remainder of the original $3,500,000 ($1,800,000 due) that Hastert agreed to pay him to remain silent. Hastert was the first to disclose the secret agreement, thereby breaching their verbal contract. Hastert' suit claimed that the money was not owed to James Doe because James Doe had violated his agreement to remain silent. Therefore, Hastert was entitled to be paid back his $1.7 million in payments. According to the Tribune,
"Kristi Browne, the victim's [Individual A] attorney, said in her recent court filing: 'Hastert engaged in illegal conduct by failing to make proper disclosures in connection with withdrawing funds from his bank accounts in violation of banking law, rendering himself and the agreement between the parties the subject of a federal investigation. Hastert was the first to disclose his agreement to pay Mr. Doe to federal officials, but falsely accused Mr. Doe of extortion, an accusation he has since retracted.'"A journalistic investigator for a Chicago-based website attempted to fact-check the Tribune' claim of Hastert' retraction. When the Tribune reporter, Christy Gutowski, failed to respond to his email inquiry, the investigator phoned Gutowski. In that telephone exchange, Gutowski "refused to answer any questions and stated: 'You will have to speak to my editor, I am just a reporter' before abruptly hanging up." Oh, just a reporter. Why was it important, to both the federal investigators and the Tribune, that Individual A not be classified as a blackmailer or extortionist? More on that ahead.
"Reporters also tracked down Individual A in February. He declined comment, but his wife acknowledged her husband is a victim. It is he who Hastert paid nearly half of an agreed $3.5 million in exchange for his silence about past misconduct."So it seems Individual A' wife didn't buy the compensatory payments narrative. There' also a visual clue (below) inserted in the April 7, 2016, article--a picture of Hastert and his wife at a restaurant with a "family friend." This friend was, also, the parent of three of Hastert' wrestlers in Yorkville. Bob Williams, a long-time close friend of Hastert, fathered a son who fits the Tribune' description of Individual A.
"Burdge [sister of the earliest confirmed Hastert victim, Steve Reinboldt, who died of AIDSA in 1995] believes there are others [victims] who could help fill in the blanks in the [Hastert] story. Prosecutors could be hoping Hastert will accept a plea bargain to keep that from happening -- or to keep Individual A from explaining things, willingly or not, on the witness stand."Why would the federal prosecutors not want Individual A "explaining things" in open court? What "things" concerned the prosecutors? Did "prosecutors" use the Tribune to control the narrative to a conclusion that went no further than Hastert' conviction for structuring, and his subsequent short prison sentence? If Individual A had been publically identified, the credibility of the compensatory payment storyline, versus the more logical blackmail explanation, would have fallen apart due to public scrutiny generated by the outing of Individual A' identity. Once "A" is known, the exploration into his background would begin in earnest, and things could get worse for Hastert. In an April 27, 2016, tweet, nearly one year after Hastert' indictment, Tribune reporter Gutowski confirmed that it was the prosecutor' wish that Individual A never testifying in court.
"Yes, it's possible all this will be adjudicated without the underlying mystery -- the real story of Dennis Hastert -- coming out."That' not just possible, but likely, particularly with a compromised news media hesitant to tell the whole truth.
"YORKVILLE --Another former Yorkville student has filed a lawsuit against former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, as well as Yorkville School District 115, detailing allegations of a rape that occurred in the 1970s. The alleged victim, named Richard Doe in the lawsuit that was filed Friday in Kendall County Circuit Court, states in his lawsuit that Hastert sodomized him in a bathroom when the victim was in fourth grade, and that the county state' attorney at the time threatened him with criminal charges upon hearing the story years later."The victim' statement graphically describes how he alleges he was sexually assaulted by Hastert when he was 10 years old. This alleged victim has a name. Eric Peter Keller. The Swamp is ugly, dark and deep, with many secrets it must keep, the road to truth is very steep, the road to truth is very steep. (Hat tip, Robert Frost, Poet) This article was written with research assistance from the staff of the Chicago-based website IllinoisPayToPlay
Since November 2007, Lee Cary has written hundreds of articles for several websites including the American Thinker, and Breitbart’s Big Journalism and Big Government (as “Archy Cary”). and the Canada Free Press. Cary’s work was quoted on national television (Sean Hannity) and on nationally syndicated radio (Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin). His articles have posted on the aggregate sites Drudge Report, Whatfinger, Lucianne, Free Republic, and Real Clear Politics. He holds a Doctorate in Theology from Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL, is a veteran of the US Army Military Intelligence in Vietnam, and lives in Texas.
